Telephone answering system



y 1942- H. R. VAN D EVENTER" 2,283,591

TELEPHONE ANSWERING SYSTEM Filed Dec. 14, 1940 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 I INVENTOR. HHRRYRVmDEvs/v TER f B? W rim- ATTORNEYS.

ay' 1942., H. R. VAN DEVENTER 2,283,591

TELEPHONE ANSWERING SYSTEM Filed Dec 14, 1940 2 Sheets-Shee a 2 INVENTOR. HHRR Y RNHNUEVE/V TER Patented May 19, 1942 f r r I res -ra- 2,288,591 TELEPHONE ANSWERING SYSTEM Harry R. Van Deventer, New York, N. Y., assignor to Peatrophone Corporation, New York, N. Y., a corporation of Nevada Appiication December 14, 1940, Serial No. 370,109

6 Claims. (01. 179-6) iJ'i'lE sr sic This invention relates to a telephone answering When methods (b) and first described are system wherein incoming calls arriving over a, used, the telephone company often charges a plurality of trunk lines are orally referred to one mileage rate for the trunk lines from its ex of said lines without the intervention of an opchange to the X Y Z Company or from the suberator and by automatic means operated by the scribers premises to. the X Y Z Company. This incoming call signals. rate may be" for sake of illustration $7.50 per Another object is to provide a system of the mile for the first mile and $5.00 per mile for class described wherein, there being a plurality each additional mile. of trunks, an incoming call on any one of said Consider now the case of a concern having ten trunks will set in operation a phonograph adaptincoming trunks to a P. B. X board, located ed to deliver a message to the trunk to which miles from the X Y zCompanys private exit is connected. I change and miles from the telephone com- Further objects will be apparent from the folpanys exchange, and desiring service. It is delowing specification, which together with the ac- I cided to run the service trunks directly from companying drawings illustrate one embodiment 15 the X Y Z Companys exchange to, the P. B. X- of the invention by way of illustration. It will a distance of 15 miles: be understood, however, that many changes in The mileage cost for 1 trunk is $77-.59;' details of apparatus and circuits can be made The. mile e for 19 trunks i 5- without departing from the inventive concept Obviouslythe latter figurewould be a burden herein described and claimed. 20 if the service is only-4,0 D be en The invention is particularly useful in large t ni h and m y he p e n p ee cities where many secretarial or telephone the e o e it s customary to Service y the answering services exist. While originally first trunk of a group, thereby having only the such services were largely confined to doctors i mileage charge of to D yi howeve and nurses, they have now extended to a large :3 gives rise to a number Of difileultiesi number of businesses and professions. The For example: A gas compa has a X service consists of answering the telephone with ten (10) trunks, the first one (#700) is when the subscriber is away from the telephone, p d 011130 t e y 1 v ce eX- and taking incoming messages which the sube s p e. e 'n e trunks at scriber is given when he returns to the telephone. in night e p g p On x cns in Va ous Such services are often operated by private Other Offiees departments, not accessible to firms and individuals not directly controlled by he e v c (iii/151911, y are 10 plugged up the Telephone Company, but who rent facilities 7 at all after the switchboard attendant leaves at from the Telephone Company and work in coopnight. eration therewith. To make this clear, the fol- 33 If #700 is busy and another call comes in lowing example will suflice: over #701 or any of the other nine trunks, the The X Y Z Message Service Company renders calling subscriber does not get an reply. As in the public a message service, and, upon notice automatic offices the selector switch will select from any telephone subscriber, will service only the first idle trunk of a gre p, v if e that line for a fixed charge per hour, week or 40 first trunk is dialed and is busy, a second calling month. One method of doing this is for the subscriber could never reach #700 and would X Y Z Company to have a trunk from the tel not know it was busy but would hear the ring phone exchange where the subscribers line ter- (on the trunk actually Selected) and Cla m Servinmates, to the private exchange of the X Y Z ice did not answer. Company, or a trunk directly from the subscrib- The present invention eliminates t o egoin ers premises to the X Y Z Company. In either condition without the necessity of any change in case, when the subscribers line is to be servexisting equipment at the central ofiice, as well iced, the telephone company either puts (a)' as providing a method of servicing a plurality all calls for that line on the X Y Z trunk, or of trunks over a single. trunk of connection. (2)) actually connects the X Y Z trunk from the In the accompanying drawings telephone exchange to the subscribers line, or Figure l is a wiring diagram of a telephone (0) the subscriber (when the X Y Z trunk tersystem embodying the invention; and minates on his premises) temporarily connects Figure 2 is a side view partly in section of the his incoming telephone line to the outgoing trunk automatic answering device used at the extension for the service period. 7 telephones-WT, HT, in Figure '1.

Referring to Figure 1, the broken line I encloses a P. B. X board which may be of any known type, magneto, common battery, manual, automatic or an combination thereof. The circuits and arrangement of apparatus is immaterial except as hereinafter pointed out, and therefore the showing in Figure 1 is purely illustrative and diagrammatic.

This board is provided with a plurality of incoming trunk lines II, I2, I 3, each having the usual signal such as the drop I I. Only one drop is shown for the sake of simplicity, it being understood that any number of trunks'may be em ployed and that all trunks are equipped with suitable signals such as I4. W'hile cut-off jacks are shown, it Will be understood that these may be keys as commonly used in cordless boards; or the terminal equipment may be that commonly used in small lamp signal boards or automatic P. B. X equipment of any type.

The local lines or extensions may be of any number and are shown at I5, I5, I I, each metallic line having a suitable signaland jack equipment as shown in connection with line I5.

Means for connecting the trunks and extensions may comprise the usual cord circuits, one of which is shown at I8, having therein the visual disconnect signal I9 operating in the usual manner. As the operating and ringing circuits are of the usual type and do not enter into the pres ent illustration, they are not shown or described. Any suitable cord battery feed may be used, or the extensions can be operated directly from the central oifice battery over the incoming trunks.

Extension I5 terminates at I5T in the usual telephone instrument. At night, trunk line II, hereafter termed the master trunk, is connected via cord circuit I8 with extension I5. All calls now coming in over trunk II will go directly to I5T and may be answered in the usual way by the telephone instrument 25 connected thereto, as shown.

However, calls coming in over trunks I2, I3, etc., hereafter called the secondary trunks, Will go to extensions IGT, IIT, etc., if the extensions are connected to the trunks as described in connection with trunk II and extensions I5T. These extensions may be far removed from I5T so that these bells will not be heard and the calls will remain unanswered.

Should the attendant at I5T fail to answer, or be engaged in other duties, and the trunk II be serviced, the Service Company will get the call via the trunk II which is connected to trunk I I at the main frame of the telephone company a switchboard at the originating exchange.

If desired, the wires extending from the main frame 2!! inwards to the drop I4 can be temporarily disconnected. Or the attendant can plug the trunk I I via a cord circuit I8 on to the service trunk II so that the Service Company can, at their own switchboard to which trunk II extends, answer all incoming calls from the central ofiice.

It will be at once be apparent that, without duplicating the service trunk II or I I on each of the trunks I 2, I3, etc., both the service man at IBT and the Service Company on the outer ends of trunk II or II (whichever is used) will fail to receive all calls on all trunks not serviced. This is prevented by the present invention by placing at each one of the extensions plugged to a trunk such as I2, I3, a device as shown and described in the co-pending application Serial CTI Number 333,268, filed May 4, 1940, entitled Telephone answering and recording apparatus.

Such a device is shown in Figure 2 and comprises a Peatrophone including a phonograph and other mechanism contained in the cabinet 2I. The phonograph is adapted for cyclic operation by shaft 22. A movable arm 23 extends over and manually holds down the switch 24 of the associated telephone instrument 25.

Any telephone bell box may be equipped with a signal pick-up 23 which, when actuated by the ringing of the bell, will actuate the mechanism 2| to lift the arm 23, thereby connecting the receiver and transmitter of the telephone handset 21 to a microphone and loud-speaker respectively, locatedwithin the casings 28. At the same time the reproducer 29 is placed in contact with the record 30 on which has previously been recorded any desired message such as: This is the gas company-The Peatrophone, a mechanical device, ansWering--If you are calling our service department, please call again Main 700 (trunk II), and if that line does not answer promptly, our night-man may be out on a job; if so, call Main 800 (trunk II or II whichever is in use) and he will immediately be notified and attend to your call. If you do not understand this message, hang up, repeat your call and. listen carefully to this message, which will be repeated.

The arm 29 is now disengaged from the record 31], mm 23 drops on the telephone switch 24, thereby automatically disconnecting same, and the device is readily for the next call.

In the aforesaid co-pending patent application a description is given of means to record a message on a disc (not shown) in the cabinet 2I, if

the calling subscriber desires to leave said message. While such a message recorder can be used in connection with the incoming call just described, it is of no particular importance in so far as the main purpose of the instant invention is concerned, which is to automatically advise calls on all trunks of a group, but the one herein designated as the master trunk, to call in again over the master trunk, or to call a certain other number instead of one of the trunk group.

This is attained by the combination of the master trunk II with the extension telephone I5T, the record 30 referring to trunk II and the several devices 2| each connected to the other extensions I6, I'I, etc., which in turn connect to the secondary trunks I2, I3, etc., to form a complete cooperative system requiring no operator and yet in which verbal instructions are issued to calling subscribers over all incoming secondary trunks.

If desired, instead of actuating the normally closed circuit signal pick-up device 26 by the vibrations of one of the bell boxes,IIiT for illustrationit can be eliminated and the starting circuit 3| to the Peatrophone operated by opening or closing contacts IE! on the cord circuit relay or signal I9. These contacts are commonly used to operate the usual night bell circuit, but can via conductor 32, be used to start the operation of the Peatrophones. In this event, conductor 32 may connect to the third conductor 33 of the cord circuit I8; a third contact 34 on each jack I6, I'I, etc., being provided and connected'to conductor 32 extending to the individual Peatrophone connected to that line.

A detailed description of the Peatrophone and its circuits will be found in the aforesaid copending application. It does not affect the normal operation of the telephone set in any manner.

The outer ends of trunks ll, l2, in the usual main exchange, or central office, to which other subscribers of the city telephone system are connected. Service trunks ll and ll (whichever is used) terminate at the service exchange switchboard of the service company.

The ringing current for telephones I5T, HST, HT, etc., when plugged up at night, as shown, emanates from the main exchange, or if a local source is used, it is actuated via a local ringing relay in the usual manner. All the Peatrophones are connected via conductors 35 to a common source of operating current which may be the usual 110 volt A. C. lighting circuit.

What is claimed is:

1. In a telephone system, a master trunk, a secondary trunk, an extension line, a telephone connected to said extension line, means connecting said extension line to said master trunk, a second telephone connected to said secondary trunk, a phonograph connected to said second telephone and having a record thereon adapted when said phonograph is actuated to deliver a message over said second telephone to the party connected to the outer end of said secondary trunk, means for actuating said phonograph operated by impulses received via said secondary trunk, and means for interconnecting at will any of said trunks and lines for two-way conversation.

2. In a telephone system, a master trunk, a secondary trunk, a telephone connected to aid master trunk, a second telephone connected to said secondary trunk, a phonograph connected to said second telephone, a record on said phono-' graph containin a message referring to said master trunk, means for operating said phonograph via impulses of current controlled by said secondary trunk whereby the calling party on said secondary trunk is automatically told to call said master trunk, and means for interchangeably connecting said telephone instruments to either trunk and each other.

3. In a telephone system, a switchboard having a plurality of trunk lines connected thereto and to a main exchange, a plurality of extension lines terminating on said board, switching mechanism whereby any trunkmay be connected to any extension line, a service trunk connected to one of said trunks and terminating in a service exchange, a phonograph connected to one of said extension lines for connection via said switching mechanism to any of said trunks except that connected to said service trunk, a record on said phonograph, and means emanating from said main exchange for initiating the operation of said phonograph to cause same to repeat said rec- !3, terminate 0rd to a calling subscriber over any of said trunks except that connected to the service trunk to refer the caller to the latter.

4. In a telephone system, a switchboard having a plurality of trunk lines connected thereto and to a main exchange, a plurality of extension lines terminating on said board, switching mechanism whereby any trunk may be connected to any extension line, a service trunk connected to one of said trunks and terminating in a service exchange, a phonograph connected to one of said extension lines for connection via said switching mechanism to any of said trunks except thatv connected to said service trunk, a record on said phonograph, and means emanating from said main exchange for initiating the operation of said phonograph to cause same to repeat said record to a calling subscriber over any of said trunks except that connected to the service trunk to refer the caller to the latter, said means including contactscontrolled by electromagnetic.

to any extension line, a service trunk connected to one of said trunks and terminating in a service exchange, a phonograph connected to one of said extensionlines for connection via said switching mechanism to any of said trunks except that connected to said service trunk, a record on said phonograph, and means emanating from said main exchange for initiating the operation of said phonograph to cause same to repeat said record to a, calling subscriber over any of said trunks except that connected to the service trunk to refer the caller to the latter, said means including one of said three conductor connecting elements in said switching mechanism.

6. In a telephone system, a switchboard having a plurality of trunk lines terminating thereon and coming from a telephone exchange, a service trunk adapted to service one of said trunks to form a master trunk, a plurality of local telea phone lines terminating on said switchboard, 

